Gladstone Meeting

The Gladstone Village Board of Trustees conducted an hearing prior to their regular meeting Monday evening.

The meeting was in regards to vacating a one block section of Chestnut Street west of Dallas Street in Gladstone on Monday evening.

Jim Dunn, who was in favor of the motion, was the only guest who attended. Mayor Rex McKinney and the entire board were present. After the hearing a vote was taken with unanimous approval to vacate the section of the street. An Ordinance will be drawn up by Village Attorney Mike Neff.

At 7 p.m. the regular Gladstone Village Board meeting was held at the Gladstone Community Building.

Issues were: Railroad Closing, Filling the Trustee Position, Alternate Signature of Mayor, and 3 items that were left off of the agenda

Mayor McKinney reported that Lisa Lafary was no longer interested in the open trustee position and he wanted to "throw in the pot" Florence Stewart for the position. Trustee Jim Hetrick responded to the Mayor's selection by reading the state statue stating his selection should be with the consent and advice of the board. Hetrick then told the mayor he was suppose to let the trustees know in advance of his selection. It would save the candidate and the board the embarssement of voting before everybody.

Trustee Jr. Bielser made a motion to appoint Stewart as Trustee and it was seconded by Mike Hopkins. A roll call vote resulted in Bielser, Hopkins, and Sebastian voting Yes, and Hetrick and Manes voting No. The motion passed.

The Mayor nominated Jr. Bielser to be the Alternate signature in his absence. Mayor McKinney was asked by Clerk Hetrick if he was going to take a vote. He replied that he didn't need one. The Clerk reminded him that their attorney said it required board approval. The mayor disagreed and read a paragraph from the Municipal Handbook that stated the Mayor may designate another to affix his signature to any written instrument that requires the Mayor's signature. Clerk Hetrick questioned if that wasn't referring to a rubber stamp. The mayor made no comment and no vote was taken.

Last month's minutes reported that Dick Bigger and Alan Ferguson were present to discuss their desire to close one railroad crossing in Gladstone. There was discussion among the board, Bigger and Ferguson on whether the east or west crossing should be closed. Rex McKinney was to set up a special meeting to gain the people's input.

McKinney reported on the railroad crossings saying that he had talked to railroad officials and that the railroad would not be closing either the west or the east railroad crossings in Gladstone. They will put safety lights with arms on the Liberty Street crossing on the east.

The mayor said he wasn't going to have a special meeting since they weren't going to close either crossing.

Three items were left off of the agenda and there was some discussion on why the mayor had left them off. The mayor said he didn't check his answering machine. He failed to call the clerk for her additions as he has in the past.

One of the three items pertained to Christmas and Santa. The board agreed to continue what the village has done in the past with Santa, the fruit baskets, etc. on December 15th.

The second thing that was left off the agenda was that John Russell wanted on the agenda regarding a Subordination Agreement.

The mayor said he had talked to Russell on Sunday and that he really felt what John is wanting, the board can't do alone and other entities need to be involved in for the approval of that agreement. Board members did not have input.

The third thing was an abandoned house that had burnt several months ago on Locust Street that needed taken care of due to open holes in the structure. Rex said Attorney Neff was instructed to send a letter regarding the structure but he didn't know where they were on the issue.

All bills were approved for payment totaling $3,103.27 from the General Fund, and $1,729.17 from the Water Operation and Maintenance fund.

A thank you note from John Allaman, President of the Henderson County Historical Society, was passed around thanking the village for their contribution to Heritage Trails weekend.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm. All members were present.

The next meeting will be December 10th at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.